hopefully this will help someone else as much as it helped me to understand what our mind and body goes through.

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a multi-system illness. This illness also produces dramatic manifestations in different organs and systems of the body.
We are not dealing with a localized ailment; rather, it is our main regulatory system that is not working properly.

The autonomic nervous system (ANS) controls the function of the organs and systems. It is "autonomic" because our mind does not govern its performance. The ANS is the interface between mind and body functions.
The peripheral autonomic system is divided into two branches; sympathetic and parasympathetic. The ANS represents the ying-yang concept of ancient eastern cultures.
Sympathetic activation prepares the whole body for fight or flight in response to stress or emergencies; in contrast, parasympathetic tone favours digestive functions and sleep.
Relentless hyperactivity of the sympathetic nervous system continues 24 hours a day. Characterized as a sympathetic nervous system that is persistently hyperactive but hypo-reactive to stress.

There is ample evidence to sustain the fact that FM pain is real as attested by different studies demonstrating very high levels of the powerful pain-transmitting substance P in the cerebrospinal fluid of patients. This means that the problem lies in the pain-transmitting nerve itself.
The most widely acknowledged biochemical abnormality is abnormally low serotonin levels.
The combination of the, high levels of substance P, and low levels of Serotonin, may be the cause of FM

Every-day activities take longer in fibromyalgia patients, they need more time to get started in the morning and often require extra rest periods during the day. They have difficulty with repetitive sustained motor tasks, unless frequent time-outs are taken. Tasks may be well tolerated for short periods of time, but when carried out for prolonged periods become aggravating factors. Activities such as prolonged sitting or standing and environmental stressors such as coldness, excessive noise and rigid time/performance expectations often aggravate fibromyalgia symptoms. They describe a "window of opportunity" for constructive work that typically extends from about 10 am to 2 p.m.

Recent studies have shown that approximately one-third of patients with lupus also have fibromyalgia. It is important to understand that the fibromyalgia in these patients develops after the lupus has become well established.

In general, lupus patients who are undergoing a flare have findings; such as evidence of true arthritis (usually with joint swelling), skin rashes, sores in their mouth, fever, hair fall or evidence of specific organ disease such as pleurisy or microscopic amounts of blood and protein in the urine. Furthermore, in active lupus, blood tests such as the sedimentation rate often become elevated, the white count (particularly the lymphocyte subset) becomes depressed and there is often an increase in the level of anti-DNA antibodies. None of these findings are a feature of fibromyalgia

Using single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT); researchers in France were able to detect functional abnormalities in certain regions in the brains of patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia, reinforcing the idea that symptoms of the disorder are related to a dysfunction in those parts of the brain where pain is processed.
The researchers confirmed that patients with the syndrome exhibited brain perfusion abnormalities in comparison to the healthy subjects. Further, these abnormalities were found to be directly correlated with the severity of the disease. An increase in perfusion (hyperperfusion) was found in that region of the brain known to discriminate pain intensity, and a decrease (hypoperfusion) was found within those areas thought to be involved in emotional responses to pain.

tgal

04-28-2011, 05:53 AM

Wonderful Thread Steve! I find it interesting that you say that Fibro develops after Lupus because everything I have read says the opposite. I have read, and heard from my daughters doctor, that there is more and more evidence that Fibro may simply be another AI disease of its own. Whatever it is I believe it is important that we as a society, and our doctors, begin to understand that Fibro is a real disease/disorder and more needs to be learned about it.

Thanks for the great information that you found. It is always nice to learn about other theories being tossed around the medical community!